The National Information and Communications Technology Company Ltd (iGovTT) is working with the Adult Literacy Tutors Association (ALTA) to create a system that will allow literacy students to learn to read online.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, ALTA is an award-winning organisation that has been lauded for its efforts in addressing the adult literacy challenge, not only in T&T but also in Grenada. ALTA provides literacy instruction for approximately 2,000 literacy students every year and has trained more than 2,500 volunteer literacy tutors since its inception.

To further extend its reach, ALTA is now working with iGovTT to commission the design of an e-platform that will provide potential students with the option to register and access various levels of reading and spelling instruction online.

Over the years, time constraints and the stigma associated with low levels of literacy have kept potential ALTA students away from the community classes and limited ALTA’s reach into the population.

A virtual classroom can go a long way in helping to remove these barriers. People will be able to access literacy instruction in their own space at their own pace. This will also benefit current ALTA students attending classes at brick-and-mortar venues, who may opt to use ALTA Online to reinforce skills learned in the classroom.

M’aisha Thomas, a key member of the ALTA online team from conception, explained the rationale behind the development of ALTA Online: “At ALTA we see our expansion into e-learning as a natural progression. We have observed through our students that non-readers have increasingly come to rely on tech devices, tapping into ICT both for leisure and to stay informed. Leveraging this existing internet use, ALTA Online will enhance the ability of emergent readers to connect with their world via the written word.”

iGovTT has been tasked with providing the terms of reference for the e-platform and overseeing the procurement process. Since the users will have limited reading skills and be of all ages, a mobile, user-friendly interface is of key importance.

Matthias Hypolite, team lead at iGovTT’s solution architect office said iGovTT is committed to achieving a positive sustainable outcome.

“Our relationship with ALTA does not end once we find a vendor; we hope to guide the process until the e-platform is up and running, and will be checking in with ALTA regularly to gauge the efficiency and overall success of the e-platform,” he said.